


My Brand

by Yellow14stoner



Category: Yellowstone (TV 2018)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:40:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26656033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yellow14stoner/pseuds/Yellow14stoner
Summary: Beth is pissed and let's Rip know it.
Relationships: Beth Dutton/Rip Wheeler
Kudos: 26





	My Brand

The Unravelling, part 2

“I don’t care who you fuck, Beth. I care about you. And I thought we knew each other better than that.”

Beth Dutton couldn’t believe he had said that with a straight face and then just walked away. So, he wanted to fight did he? Well she could do that. Right after she finished with her father, she'd find that infuriating cowboy and give him another piece of her mind. She didn’t let people get the last word and she'd be damned if she let Rip Wheeler get this one.

A few hours later, Beth had sent Jason in town to get himself a hotel. They would have to find him a place if he was sticking around as her assistant but for tonight, she needed some time to herself. She went to her room to change into something more comfortable, something that would distract her errant cowboy while she reamed him out for the way he was acting. Damn, she hated when he was mad at her. It pissed her off and made her do irrational things.

It pissed her off even more when she hadn’t done anything wrong. Sure, that Walker asshole had helped her conquer riding that horse the other day and she knew Rip had watched him put his hands on her but that was where it ended. She didn’t encourage anything more, didn’t allow room for him to think there could be more, even if she knew she could have him in a heartbeat. She didn’t want him and Rip should have known that for Christ’s sake.

Sliding her jeans up over her hips, Beth tucked a denim shirt into them and threw on boots. She grabbed her crushed felt hat on her way out of the room and waltzed out of the lodge.

Walking up to the Foreman's cabin from the back, Beth wasn’t surprised to see Rip sitting outside and having a beer. He still had his jeans and boots on but he had undone the buttons of his black shirt and let it hang open against the white tee underneath. His hat lay on the chair beside him and he was chewing on a toothpick as he starred out over the fields. He was stewing and he looked angry and sexy but she needed to put her game face on.

“Is this how we’re going to play this?” She stopped just short of the porch and put her hands on her hips.

“We’re not playing anything Beth. You said you didn’t want to restart this thing between us when you weren’t sure how long you were back for so this is me, not starting it. You know, I can fuck you whenever you’re feeling the urge and I know you can get someone else to do it if it suits better. I hear you Beth, loud and clear.”

Rip delivered his monologue in a cool, calm voice. He looked her in the eyes and never raised his voice. Anyone that didn’t know the man would have assumed the arrangement fit him just fine. But Beth did know him. She knew cool and calm were his self-defenses against losing control. She knew he was raging with jealousy on the inside and if she hadn’t been so pissed off, she would have reassured him that she wasn’t interested in anyone else. Hell, she hadn’t been interested in anyone else since they were 14 fucking years old. 

Unfortunately, she was pissed off. “Yea. Well maybe it does suit me when you’re like this, Rip. I didn’t fuck Walker, ya know. He helped me ride a horse, not him. Something you coulda done if you weren’t so fucking scared of upsetting my father. But no, we tip toe around each other, acting like we’re still those angry teenagers screwing in the horse stalls.”

Beth let out an exasperated breath of air as she unleashed on Rip. Yes, she had told him she didn’t want to start anything but was that the truth? Of course not. What she really wanted was to start something that never ended. She wanted him to step up and claim her in front of her father. She was a grown woman and she was sick of hiding who she loved. It was time for Rip Wheeler to grow up or she was going to give him up for good.

She lowered her voice and looked down at the ground. “I’m not going to do this anymore. If you can’t decide that you want me in front of people, then you won’t have me at all.” 

She looked up sadly at the face of the only man who had ever held her heart. It broke her to say the words out loud but she needed the change. She was not getting any younger and she was ready to move forward with her life. With one last look, she turned around and headed towards the barns.

When she rounded the side of the barn, she saw one of the horses in the pen crunching on some hay. Beth walked over and leaned against the rails. She petted the horse’s face and whispered soothing words to him. She wasn’t sure if they were for his or her benefit. 

That was where Walker found her. Maybe the farmer’s daughter could help him get off this God-forsaken ranch and if not, maybe he would just fuck her to stick it to the Duttons and the muscle-head foreman. He had seen the way they lingered around each other. She must be a good lay.

“There’s something evil about this place. It’s like this land doesn’t want us here. I wanna quit but they won’t let me.”

Beth rolled her eyes at the sound of the skinny ranch-hand. Of course, the whining, poor-me, sad-eyed mother fucker had happened upon her during another vulnerable moment. Well, she wasn’t in the mood to listen to his bullshit. 

She turned around and pulled his shirt open to confirm suspicions about what had him so distraught. Yep, just as she suspected. A branded man. There was no getting away from this place for him and she told him as much, hoping he’d take the hint and get lost. 

Beth was surprised to see the man step closer towards her and reach out his hand. Before she realized what he was doing, he had torn the front of her shirt open, looking for a brand that she didn’t wear.

“Where’s your brand.”

Beth slapped Walker in the face for his audacity. She flashed anger from her eyes and said, “My brand’s on the inside. But this one,” Beth untucked her denim shirt, undid the button and zipper of her jeans and pushed the side on her left hip down to her panty line.

“This one is not and it’s the one that keeps me here.” 

She winked at Walker and looked over his shoulder at Rip, who had been leaning one shoulder against the side of the barn, watching their exchange.

Walker looked down at the ink that she revealed low on her hip. ‘Rip' was scrolled there in elegant penmanship and a small cowboy hat was outlined beside it. Walker just shook his head. Of course he had had her marked but that didn’t bother him. He told her as much, “Shit, you think that bitty tattoo bothers me? Well it don’t, I’ll still have you up against this barn if that’s what you want.” He smiled at her and stuck his finger out like he was going to touch the skin baring his name.

Beth stepped back and started doing her pants back up. 

“Looks to me, like she don’t want, Walker. At least not from you.” Rip stepped out from the shadows of the barn and strode dangerously close to the convict. His face was mere inches from the other man’s when he said, “I suggest, you keep your hands to yourself next time or you’ll be getting more than a slap in the face. Ya hear?” 

Walker took a step back, damn this fucker was intimidating, not that he would ever tell him that but he acquiesced all the same. “Yea, I hear Rip.” He nodded at Beth and continued, “But should the lady ever need any more riding tips, I’ll be...”

Rip wound up and decked Walker right in the face and before he even finished his sentence, he was down in the dirt, holding his bleeding nose. 

The big, strong cowboy turned to Beth then, “I’ll be the one showing you how to ride darlin. Make no mistake about that,” he approached her and put his hand low on her left hip to caress his name hiding beneath her jeans, “and I’ll make sure everyone else knows it too.” 

He backed her up against the barn, and threaded the fingers of his left hand through her hair. He claimed her mouth in a kiss so passionate that Beth would have let him take her right there for the whole ranch to see. Luckily, he always kept his wits about him so be broke it off, panting.

“Time to go home, baby. We have some more branding and making up to do.” He lifted her under her ass and she wrapped her legs around his waist. She took the cowboy hat from his head and angled hers to kiss him as he walked back toward his cabin.

Once they reached his front door, Rip let Beth’s feet slide down until they hit the ground. He kept his arms around her waist and leaned in to kiss her softly.   
“Damn, woman. You can make me jealous enough to kill and mad enough to see red. But, when you kiss me,” he pecked her lips again, “when you kiss me, all I can see is you.” 

Beth reached up on her tip toes to kiss him again and smiled softly when she pulled back. She scratched her fingers through his beard and whispered, “I think that’s called love, baby.”

“Mmm, love huh?”

“Mhm, love.”

“Love?” The gruff, questioning tone of one John Dutton coming out of the shadows had the pair jumping 5 feet apart.

“Daddy! What are you doing here?” Beth’s eyes were large with surprise and she nervously shuffled her feet.

“Beth, I could ask you the same thing but I think I heard enough. It’s about time you got your head outta your ass, Rip.”

“Sir?” Rip questioned his boss's statement, almost afraid of the answer.

“You think I haven’t known about the two of you for years? Hell, the only time Beth makes it through a meal is after she’s spent time with you. That’s the easiest way to tell whether or not she’s in a good mood, ya know.” He chuckled to himself at his own joke. 

Stepping forward, John held his hand out to shake Rip’s hand. When Rip took it, he said “I couldn’t have chosen better if I had done it myself but I guess I kinda did, didn’t I?”

Rip saw nothing but honesty in the older man’s eyes and his own glossed over for a second before he blinked the emotion away. 

“Thank you, sir.”

Beth stepped up and threaded her arm through Rip’s. She leaned up and kissed her father’s cheek. “Thank ya, Daddy.” She whispered.

John patted her cheek and looked at Rip. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Have a good night.” 

And then he was gone and the couple on the porch starred after him in shock before they started smiling. Beth tugged Rip into the cabin, and a good night they had, indeed.


End file.
